Brexit News & Views

What should we be looking at in our Brexit Supply Chain planning?

It is vitally important business understand their supply chain today because, whatever the outcomes of negotiations, there will be changes to navigate including some opportunities for optimising the ways you manage your supply chains. In fact it is an ideal time for companies to map their current supply chain both for supplies and also how goods are delivered to customers. Brexit issues cover a wide range of areas such as:

• Payment or not of VAT

• Supply contracts and use of Incoterm Rules

• Costs and profit margins

• Origin of goods

• Supply chain hubs

• Customs and tariffs

• Lead Times

• Benefits of trusted trader schemes

• Registration and conformity standards on goods

For some businesses the UK being an independent country will bring about very few issues and result in further supply chain opportunities for others it will require some reshaping and reassessment of current procedures to mitigate any impact on the robustness of existing supply chains. If Brexit slows the movement of goods through the supply chain – through customs, ports, logistics – it could change how stock is distributed, the network design needed to cope, and the facilities needed to hold stock.